It was a really overcast day for this South Florida senior session. So much so, on the way there I was thinking I really should have rescheduled. I've shot in worse I reminded myself and being booked out every day for 5 weeks I really didn't have the flexibility to move it to another date.

Having seen some of my images with my vintage looking motorcycle, the client (senior) actually asked if we could use that in our session. Which was great because I knew with the overcast skies we could do a more moody, editorial look. That said, I knew I still needed to get some pretty natural light edits for her so we started looking for some bougainvillea which always seems to be blooming around South Florida throughout the year. And there behind this coffee house in the parking lot was a very sad little tree...no doing so well and less than full color because of the cold temperatures we have had lately. When I said, "this will work, let's have you stand here", I'm pretty sure the mom and the senior looked at each other and thought to themselves "does this guy know what he's doing? ...there's no way this is going to look good". I said trust me. Knowing it was kind of a crazy looking background besides the tree, I took a quick behind the scene shot. Maybe I'll use it as a before and after for my blog ;-)

Often photographers are looking for those amazing locations with beautiful backgrounds. I know I probably did in the beginning. Then we grow and learn that background isn't so much about the literal background but how we use it and the way the light reflects on the background. In this case I just needed a little background and something that would bring out what little light and color I had to work with on this day. My F/2.0 lens would take care of the rest (normally I shoot with a 70-200mm F/2.8 but since I had to ride my motorcycle to the shoot, I could only fit my 100mm F/2.0 in the backpack).